[9] His grandson is Yevgeny Primakov Jr. (Russian: Евгений Александрович Примаков), a journalist, TV host, politician and diplomat.

From 30 December 1970 to 1977, he served as deputy director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, part of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.

[13] He served as Gorbachev's special envoy to Iraq in the run-up to the Persian Gulf War, in which capacity he held talks with President Saddam Hussein to try to convince him to withdraw Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

Primakov preserved the old KGB foreign intelligence apparatus under the new SVR label, and led no personnel purges or structural reforms.

As foreign minister, he gained respect at home and abroad, with a reputation as a tough but pragmatic supporter of Russia's interests[20] and as an opponent of NATO's expansion into the former Eastern Bloc, though on 27 May 1997, after five months of negotiation with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana, Russia signed the Founding Act,[21][22] which is seen as marking the end of Cold War hostilities.

[23] He was also famously an advocate of multilateralism as an alternative to American global hegemony following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Primakov called for a Russian foreign policy based on low-cost mediation while expanding influence towards the Middle East and the former Soviet republics.

[24][25] Called the "Primakov doctrine", beginning in 1999, he promoted Russia, China, and India as a "strategic triangle" to counterbalance the United States.

[26][27][28] After Yeltsin's bid to reinstate Viktor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister of Russia was blocked by the State Duma in September 1998, the President turned to Primakov as a compromise figure whom he rightly judged would be accepted by the parliament's majority.

[36] Ultimately, Yeltsin resigned at the end of the year and was succeeded by his last prime minister, Vladimir Putin,[37] whom Primakov had tried to fire from his role as head of the FSB when he tapped the phone of the Duma President.

Before Yeltsin's resignation, Primakov supported the Fatherland – All Russia electoral faction, which at that time was the major opponent of the pro-Putin Unity, and launched his presidential bid.

[40] Initially considered the man to beat, Primakov was rapidly overtaken by the factions loyal to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the December 1999 Duma elections.

[47] In a 2006 speech Primakov thundered that: "The collapse of the US policies pursued in Iraq delivered a fatal blow on the American doctrine of unilateralism.

… Yevgeny's authority was respected both in our country and abroad..."[38] Indeed, "his death occurred at a time when his positions [were] very much the official line and the backbone for Putin's grand strategy.